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The talks between Penske Racing and Porsche for the Penske team to run at least one private Porsche 963 in the FIA World Endurance Championship will not continue, according to reports in the German motorsport press.
Marcus Schurig, editor of AMuS's Motorsport Aktuell, a German motorsport magazine, spoke to Thomas Laudenbach, Porsche's vice president for motorsport, at the Macau Grand Prix last weekend.
'Last week, we reached an agreement with Roger Penske not to pursue these plans any further,' said Laudenbach (translated from German).
He further explained: 'We examined all scenarios for helping Roger Penske and came to the conclusion that a private team involving Penske could be seen as a backdoor return for Porsche, and would simultaneously dilute what we have achieved together as a factory team in the WEC over the last three years – especially with a view to a factory entry at Le Mans.'
This, then, shuts the door on Penske running any private operation in WEC next year with the Porsche 963, either teaming up with Proton or going it alone as a customer operation.
Talks at Bahrain come to naught
It was reported last week, by The Race's Thibaut Villemant, that talks took place at Bahrain featuring Roger Penske, Proton team principal and owner Christian Reid, and Ferdi Porsche.
The latter is Proton's 963 programme backer. He owns lifestyle company FAT Turbo, and is the grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche. He is also the son of company chairman Wolfgang Porsche.
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The idea was to run two Proton-Penske Porsche 963s in WEC, thereby fulfilling the two-car requirement for any Hypercar manufacturer. This would mean Porsche could take up the automatic Le Mans invite it received for winning the IMSA Sportscar Championship title.
As ever, though, these things are in a constant state of flux. And now it seems Penske will not run any private 963 entries in WEC.
Where does that leave Proton, and Porsche?
Right now, we simply don’t know. That’s the honest truth.
Reid has previously said, via Sportscar365, that Proton does not have the funding to run two cars in WEC next year. And, with the aforementioned two-car rule... it's two cars, or no cars.
As for Porsche... if there aren't any 963s competing in WEC full-time next year, the German manufacturer is unlikely to be able to take up the auto invite.
But, note what Laudenbach concluded with. '...especially with a view to a factory entry at Le Mans'.
Is that hinting at Porsche still wanting to enter Le Mans next year in some form or another?
For that, though, we come back to the two-car mandate, as Laudenbach finished by saying: 'According to the regulations, such an entry is not possible without prior participation of two cars in the WEC'.
We'll have to wait to find out.
The WEC 2026 application window closes in on 27th November, with the entry list scheduled to be revealed in early December. So we don't have long to wait!
Feature image: Drew Gibson
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